Things I See When I Look Up

Sometimes we hear them running across the houseboat roof, seagulls, as if they're doing sprints. At first the cats looked up in wonder, then they got used to it, the way we all get used to the strange sounds in a new place - the creaking of the dock, the moaning of the ramp, the wind chime jingle of the sailboat rigging in the wind. So often my focus is on the water, the reflection of light, the things that float by. But one day while visiting my friend Jim in his houseboat, Casa de Amor, I looked up and through his skylight, I  saw an astonishing sight.